ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2008) — Vast Martian glaciers of water ice under protective blankets of rocky debris persist today at much lower latitudes than any ice previously identified on Mars, says new research using ground-penetrating radar on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. [...]

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Finding water is an incredibly important thing for a permanent colony. With that glacial ice alone, we could sustain a small human population almost indefinitely. There are only two more major obstacles to colonization: how to get there, and radiation. Why radiation? Mars has no magnetosphere so the solar winds easily strip anything resembling an atmosphere away. Without a strong planetary magnetic field, terraforming is a pipe dream. The solar radiation will also keep the surface sterile.

Then there is the possibility for ancient life to be found? Will we? Will it be bacteria? Will we find Martian fish preserved in the bottom of the ice?